


City Lights

by ToukoTai



Series: Skateboards and Spray Paint [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Street punk AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 09:18:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2304584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToukoTai/pseuds/ToukoTai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They grew up without a lot of parental supervision and an entire city to explore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	City Lights

“Hey.” Tim lowered his camera. A head of blonde hair was poking over the fire escape next to him. “What are you doing out this late?” He blinked at her, surprised enough that his comeback was not one of his best.

“What are you?” The girl tossed her head and climbed up onto the section of fire escape he was perched on.

“I asked you first!” She settled next to him, poking Tim in the ribs. He squirmed away from the contact and then held up his camera.

“I like to take photos. Your turn.”

“I got bored and saw you climbing the fire escape.” She grinned at him and Tim finds himself grinning back. “I’m Steph.”

“Tim.” He looked up at the sky, smoggy and dreary and dark. “Wanna climb higher?” He asks because he doesn’t want her to lose interest and leave. Because he’s always been alone, and he never really realized it until right now. There’s never been anyone his age around, it’s always been just him and his camera. And now, well, now there was someone else. Steph nods at him and jumps up.

“Race ya to the top!” She shouts and Tim scrambles up the wrought iron gridwork ladders after her. He doesn’t win that time or any time after either. He doesn’t mind in the least. It’s fun, way more fun then when he was chasing after Batman and Robin on his own. Soon he’s dropping by the same apartment building three to four times a week, just for her, just for the fun of it. Just for races up the rattling fire escape and daring jumps on the concrete walling. Eventually, their nightly escapades evolve into covering the building next door and then next door to that and soon the two of them are running wild all over the city. It does get him to wondering though, how she can be out at all hours of the night. Never late for a meet-up, never a no show.

 

“What about your parents?” He finally cracks one night. She shrugs.

“What about your’s?” Tim shrugs as well. Because there isn’t really anything to say, except. “Not around.”

“Same.” And that’s that.

 

Tim doesn’t stop taking pictures of Batman and Robin. The difference is that now Steph tags along. Tim trusts her with what he knows. That Bruce is Batman, that Richard Grayson was Robin, that Jason Todd is the current one. Stephanie doesn't believe him until he lays it all out for her, she tells him how smart he is and whacks him excitedly on the shoulder.

"Tim, Tim you're going be awesome!"

"Shut up." He says, pulling his hood down over his blushing cheeks. "We're going to be awesome." He corrects her. Because he's just a sad lonely kid without her. She pushes him, challenges him. She's faster then him, has better street smarts, she's vicious and wears her emotions in the open. He envies that. How comfortable she is with other people. She fits in almost everywhere without even trying. The arcade, the skate-park, the really nice restaurant they crash. She's at home everywhere.

Steph stays quiet while he takes his photos and then she drags him out into the city. They see everything and anything. Gang wars and violence and blood. Bright lights, and gardens and cars and buses. Weddings and funerals and engagements. First kisses and dates and everything in between. Gotham wasn’t a nice city, not by a long shot, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t beautiful as well. There is danger, they have a lot of close calls at the start. Poison Ivy doesn’t mind them and even helps them once or twice, when they get into things they can’t get out of on her turf. (She likes the photos Tim takes of her plants, she likes the way Steph waters her harmless garden when she’s gone.) They stumble on Catwoman one night and she takes them under her wing a little. She teaches them what to avoid, when to avoid, where to hide, how to hide and how to run the rooftops and alleys and always land on their feet.(so they can run) Tim and Steph strike out on their own, they learn Gotham until they can run her streets with their eyes closed. (And do sometimes for the fun of it.) Tim takes pictures of everything. Steph finds her way into most of the shots. Photobombing his photos is becoming her number one skill.

 

Tim's giant of a house is still as empty as it was the day before. His parents are still as absent as ever. But now there's Steph and nights on the city.  Steph's mother might still be high as a kite or too depressed to get out of her bed. Her father might still be in jail. But she's got something to look forward to now, she's got Tim now. They've got the neon glow of billboards, bars, dance clubs and street signs. The thrill of wind curling through their hair. The slap of their sneakers on pavement. Little things that add up into big things. Tim wakes up one night and realizes that he’s happy, Steph rolls out of bed one day and realizes the same. 

 

Jason Todd dies the next week.

 

“You could do it.” Steph says one day as they’re sitting on rooftop, watching the cloudy sky. “You could be the next Robin.” She’s not looking at him when she brings this up. But he knows her and she knows him. So he knows she’s very invested in his answer precisely because she’s pretending not to be. It’s not like Tim hasn’t given it some thought. Some very serious deep thought.

“I could.” He allows. “So could you.”

“Yeah.” Her voice lacks its usual strength. She could just as easily be the next Robin. But he knows and she knows, Batman wouldn’t take two. It’s one or nothing. And Tim finds that he doesn’t want to give this up. Doesn’t want to stop meeting in the twilight, skating in the abandoned parks, dashing down alleys and climbing rooftops. Tipping their heads back to watch the signal and the clouds and the airplanes. Talking together with their heads so close, laughing at the top of their lungs and practically shrieking with glee. Knowing someone down to their very bones.

And if either of them went to be Robin, these nightly runs would be finished. In the end, Tim knew what Steph would choose, and she knew what he would choose in turn. But somethings need to be said out loud.

"I'm not sure I can wear pants that tight." He muses, Steph snorts. "You, on the other hand..." She slaps his shoulder in mock anger.

"Please! Red with my complexion? I'd be arrested by the fashion police before even hitting the street." Tim holds out his fist and she knocks her's against his. Message received on both ends, it's all or nothing.

"There's a play in the park performance at central park in twenty." Tim wags his eyebrows at Steph. 'Babes in Arms." She jumps to her feet with a whoop.

"Race ya there!" She shouts, already flinging herself over the edge and onto the fire escape. Tim scrambles after her, he loses of course.

 

Gotham's a city that will chew you up and spit you out. Tim and Stephanie know that, better then most. Steph spends as much time out and away as she can. She has to be moving and talking and energy. To sit still is to dwell, on her mother's drug problem, on her father and his crime problem, and she'd rather not. Tim knows how to take care of himself. It's all he's ever known. He's not used to casual touches, doesn't quite know how to act when hugged, is surprised when Steph tries to take care of him.

The way they figure, they are already broken in a thousand small ways, at least now they can be broken together. Life's easier (and more fun) when you have someone to watch your back.


End file.
